This past Thursday, the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament commenced. There's nothing like March Madness to a basketball junkie. In two days there are 32 games and 48 in a total of four days.
Each of the first eight games on the tournament's opening day were decided by eight or more points with the lone moderately interesting game between Xavier and Georgia, won by the Musketeers 73-61 after they erased an 11-point second half deficit. Xavier put it away by going 21-for-22 from the foul line in the second half. In fact, seven of the eight games were decided by double-figures. It didn't get really exciting until later that night when Belmont led Duke with less than a minute to play before the Blue Devils pulled it on Gerald Henderson's coast-to-cast lay-up. Henderson scored his team's final eight points. Other than that, the day was pretty uneventful without any shocking upsets, unless you want to call Kansas State over USC one (which I won't because I had KSU).
Friday gave us plenty of surprises. Western Kentucky, seeded 12th, knocked off fifth-seeded Drake 101-99 in overtime on Ty Rogers' buzzer-beating three-pointer. Drake was down by as many as 16 in the second half before rallying to force OT. The game saw a combined total of 70 three-pointers attempted and 30 made, both NCAA Tournament opening round game records. Fortunately for the Hilltoppers, the last one was the most meaningful.
That wasn't the only upset in Tampa. There were three more, including #13 San Diego stunning Connecticut 70-69 in overtime. UCONN lost starting point guard A.J. Price in early in the game due to injury as he strained his knee and did not return. Overall though, the Huskies were lethargic and committed turnovers to allow the undersized Toreros to build confidence.
Credit San Diego for effectively using screen-and-roll with 6-foot-7 power forward/center Gyno Pomare, who finished with 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the field before fouling out. Pomare was able to bring Huskies center Hasheem Thabeet away from the basket where he likes to stay because his best attribute is his shot blocking. Thabeet, with a limited offensive game, was more of a liability in this game. Point guard Brandon Johnson scored eight straight points for San Diego to put them up 52-46, and once UCONN re-gained the lead at 54-52, the Toreros wouldn't go away again. They played very patiently and scored six consecutive points.
Even though Johnson and Pomare both fouled out in overtime, and they got beat 38-23 on the boards, San Diego persevered and D'Jon Jackson was the hero with his game-winning with 1.2 seconds left.
Later on in the evening session in Tampa, Siena put it to Vanderbilt, going up 14 at half-time and never looking back. The Saints, seeded 13th, upset the fourth-seeded Commodores 83-62 and held Vandy to 4-for-21 shooting from beyond the arc. Seina also scored 29 points off 16 turnovers. Tay Fisher went a perfect 6-for-6 from long distance for Siena, finishing with 19 points. Kenny Hasboruck dropped in a game-high 30 points and hit all 10 of his free-throws.
Up by 18 in the first half, Clemson appeared to be in control of their first round game against Villanova, the #12 seed in the Midwest Region. After beginning 7-for-16 from three-point land, the Tigers misfired on 17 of their final attempts from long distance and watched Villanova come-from-behind to win 75-69. Although Clemson hit eight straight free-throws at one point, they finished 14-for-23 from the charity stripe and that area has been one of their weak spots all year. As for Jay Wright's Villanova Wildcats, they were led by Scottie Reynolds' 21 points on 4-of-5 three-point shooting. Villanova connected on 24-of-29 foul shots and 7-of-13 three-point tries.
While the South Region saw all of the favored seeds prevail, the Midwest Region got turned upside down. Seeds 10, 11, 12 and 13 all advanced.
Our NCAA Tournament Preview: http://www.matthewhatfield.com/Basketball/Hoops/NCAA_BKB_TournamentPreview_3-18-08.pdf (requires login)
Hatfield Sports First Round Record: 21-11 http://www.matthewhatfield.com/Basketball/HatfieldSports_Bracket.pdf
Saturday Second Round Picks:
#2 Duke v. #7 West Virginia – 2:10PM – Pick: Duke by 6
#3 Wisconsin v. #11 Kansas State – 4:20PM – Pick: Wisconsin by 3
#3 Xavier v. #6 Purdue – 4:40PM – Pick: Xavier by 7
#4 Washington State v. #5 Notre Dame – 6:40PM – Pick: Wash. St. by 5
#3 Stanford v. #6 Marquette – 6:45PM – Pick: Stanford by 10
#1 Kansas v. #8 UNLV – 6:50PM – Pick: Kansas by 18
#4 Pittsburgh v. #5 Michigan State – 9:10PM – Pick: Mich. St. by 1 (OT)
#1 UCLA v. #9 Texas A&M – 9:15PM – Pick: UCLA by 15
